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Missouri House Completes Work on FY ’25 Budget
The big news out of Jefferson City this week is that Missouri House completed its work on the FY ’25 state budget, approving an appropriation of approximately $50.7B dollars. The version the House approved is $2B less than proposed by Governor Parson and leaves largely intact a state surplus of over $6B remaining from the COVID crisis which swelled government coffers over the last several years. The House fully funded the education foundation formula as well as expansion of the Medicaid program approved by voters several years ago. It also includes a 3.2% raise for state workers, who have been in past years some of the lowest paid state employees in the country.
During the debate over the spending plan, Democrats offered amendments to increase funding for numerous programs, but those efforts failed largely on party-line votes. The budget now goes to the Senate for further consideration. Work on the budget must be finished by Friday, May 10th. Passing a balanced budget is the one Constitutionally-mandated obligation lawmakers must meet during the legislative session.
For those interested in learning more about how much of the budget is state vs federal dollars, and where that money goes each year, you can click here to see how appropriations for FY ’24 were allocated. Not surprisingly, social services (including Medicaid) and education expenses alone make up over one half of all expenditures.
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